Pastor Steven J. ColeFlagstaff Christian Fellowship123 S. Beaver StreetFlagstaff, Arizona 86001www.fcfonline.org

AVOIDING SPIRITUAL DECEPTION(Part 1)

1 John 2:18-23

By

Steven J. Cole

February 12, 2006

© Steven J. Cole, 2006

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Unless otherwise noted, all ScriptureQuotations are from the New American

Standard Bible, Updated Edition© The Lockman Foundation

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February 12, 20061 John Lesson 10

Avoiding Spiritual Deception (Part 1)1 John 2:18-23

The March, 2006, issue of Reader s Digest features a cover storyon ten money scams to beware of. It seems that the Internet andother modern technologies have opened many doors of opportu-nity for con artists who are after your money. To avoid beingripped off you must stay alert.

It’s traumatic when thieves steal your identity and yourmoney, but there is something far more traumatic and tragic,namely, when spiritual con artists, who claim to be Christian, de-ceive the unsuspecting. The stakes are much higher than someone’slife savings. The eternal destiny of souls is at risk! Since the days ofthe New Testament, Satan has planted these deceivers in Christianchurches, where they prey on the untaught or on those who aredisgruntled. To avoid spiritual deception, you must develop biblicaldiscernment and be vigilant at all times.

But we live in a day when the whole idea of spiritual discern-ment is minimized because spiritual truth is minimized. The sloganis, “Doctrine divides. Let’s set aside our doctrinal differences andcome together on the areas where we agree.” Another popularmantra is, “Jesus said that they will know that we are His disciplesby our love, not by our doctrine.” The implication is, “Set aside yourdoctrinal views and accept anyone who says that he believes in Je-sus.” Tolerance, unity, and love are viewed as much more impor-tant than doctrinal truth, which often smacks of pride.

I have had my share of unpleasant encounters with those whoarrogantly claim to have the truth. They beat you up with it, notshowing much grace or kindness. But we should not allow suchexperiences to cause us to throw out the biblical emphasis onsound doctrine. It is not a minor theme in the Bible!

It is highly significant that John, the apostle of love, who hasjust written that love is an essential mark of the true Christian (2:7-11), now calls these false teachers “antichrists” and “liars”! Hedoesn’t call them “brothers in Christ,” who just have different ways

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of understanding things. He makes it plain that they were trying todeceive the true Christians and that they were not Christian in anysense of the term. True biblical love is not divorced from an em-phasis on biblical truth. To compromise the truth about the personand work of Jesus Christ is to be hateful to the core, because sucherror results in the eternal damnation of those who embrace it.

In these verses, John applies his third test by which you mayevaluate the soundness of a teacher, as well as your own life. Hehas already given us the moral test of obedience to God’s com-mandments (2:3-6). He has given the relational test of love (2:7-11).Now he gives the doctrinal test of truth about the person and workof Jesus Christ (2:18-27). He says,

To avoid spiritual deception, be discerningof people and doctrine.

The section (2:18-27) falls into three parts. In 2:18-20, Johnshows that to avoid spiritual deception, you must develop discern-ment with regard to people. In 2:21-23, he shows that you mustdevelop discernment with regard to doctrine, especially, the truthabout Jesus Christ. In 2:24-27 (which we will study next week), heshows that the means of developing such discernment is to abide inthe Word and in the Spirit.

1. To avoid spiritual deception, be discerning of people(2:18-20).

John contrasts the false teachers with true believers. He ad-dresses all of his readers as “children,” (see 2:13), implying theirvulnerability and the need to be on guard against these unprinci-pled men who were trying to deceive them (2:26). As a wise spiri-tual father, John is giving important counsel that will help us avoidbeing deceived.

He says, “It is the last hour.” The way that we know it is thelast hour is that “many antichrists have appeared.” Some have saidthat John mistakenly thought that Jesus would return in his life-time. Such a view undermines the divine inspiration of Scripture. Ifyou buy into it, you cannot trust anything that the apostles wrote.You become the judge of Scripture according to what strikes youas true. This view also impugns the intelligence of the apostles.John had heard Jesus say that no one knows the hour of His com-

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ing (Matt. 24:36). It is not reasonable to accuse him of being mis-taken here about the time of the second coming.

Rather, John is calling the entire period between Jesus’ ascen-sion and His return “the last hour.” No one knows how long thisperiod will last, but the phrase, “the last hour,” implies a sense ofurgency, in that Jesus may come at any moment. Jesus concludesHis teaching on the end times with this application to the wisehearer: “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know whenthe appointed time will come” (Mark 13:33).

John says that a distinguishing feature of this age is that anti-christ is coming and that even now many antichrists have appeared.John is the only New Testament writer to use this word, and it onlyoccurs five times in four verses (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). Butthe concept of the antichrist is more frequent. Daniel 7 talks aboutthe horn and Revelation 13 talks about the beast, both of whichrefer to antichrist. Paul (2 Thess. 2:1-12) mentions the man of law-lessness who will exalt himself and display himself as being God.His coming will be “in accord with the activity of Satan, with allpower and signs and false wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9). He will deceivemany, who will perish. When John says that antichrist is coming, herefers to this future evil leader.

But when he says, “even now many antichrists have ap-peared,” he means that the evil spirit that will characterize the finalantichrist is already working in these false teachers who have leftthe churches. The prefix, “anti,” can mean either “instead of” or“in opposition to.” It may contain both ideas here. The false teach-ers rise up within the church and present a system that subtly pres-ents something instead of Jesus Christ. The false teacher may use thesame label, “Jesus Christ,” but he will not be the same Jesus that ispresented in the Bible. If a gullible person takes the bait, he is ledfarther away until finally he is in total opposition to Christ.

These false teachers, whom John labels antichrists, did notcarry pitchforks and wear red suits with horns and a tail, or T-shirtssaying, “Warning: I am an antichrist!” Rather, they arose in thechurches. Some of them may have been elders or pastors, who fora while had taught the truth. Paul warned the Ephesian elders,“from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perversethings, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). Now

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these men were leaving the churches to form new groups, saying,“We have come into a deeper knowledge of the truth. Follow usand we’ll let you in on this secret knowledge.” John gives threeguidelines to watch for:

A. Beware: Satan works in the realm of religion.

False teachers invariably adopt Christian terminology andposture themselves as being Christians, but they are not. They usu-ally begin within the church (2:19) and at first, their teaching is or-thodox. They often have attractive personalities and they build afollowing of people who seem to be helped by their teaching.

But, eventually, they begin subtly to veer from the truth.There may be multiple motives. Sometimes, they fall into immoral-ity, and to justify their sin, they have to deny Scripture. Or, theymay love the acclaim of being popular, along with the financial re-wards that often go along with a successful ministry. It feels goodto be in demand as a speaker, to stay in luxury hotels and speak tolarge crowds. As a man’s popularity grows, he grows in power. Hehires a loyal group of lieutenants who carry out his wishes. No onedares to challenge the man’s teaching or lifestyle, even though he ispreaching heresy and living in disobedience to Scripture. But, inspite of his deviance, he is still trafficking in the realm of religion.

Note, also, that there has never been a perfect church, even inNew Testament times while the apostles were still living. Wesometimes idealize the early church, thinking that if we could justget back to the New Testament principles, we wouldn’t have all ofthe problems that we constantly battle in the modern church.

But, these early churches had gone through the damage offalse teachers in their midst, who now had left the churches toform new groups. Undoubtedly, they took with them people fromthe churches. Whenever that happens, those who still are in thechurch are confused and wounded. They wonder, “Why did ourfriends leave? They claim that they have found the truth now andthat we are in the dark. Maybe there are problems here. Maybe weshould leave, too.” This is how the enemy has worked from theearliest days of the church. Don’t be surprised when it happens.

B. Beware of anyone who breaks from the true church toform a new group with new theology.

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“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for ifthey had been of us, they would have remained with us; but theywent out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us”(2:19). John’s words here do not apply to people who get disgrun-tled in one evangelical church and leave to join or form anotherevangelical church. While that practice is usually regrettable andsad, it is wrong to label those who left as heretics, unless they alsohave abandoned core Christian truth.

Heretics not only eventually separate themselves from trueChristians to form their own groups, but also, they deviate fromorthodox Christian doctrine on major issues. They claim that theyhave the truth and that others do not, or that they now see thingsthat others do not see. And, invariably they try to recruit othersfrom within the church to join them.

While such situations are painful and unpleasant, John’s wordshere should prepare us not to be surprised or disheartened when ithappens. If it happened to the churches under John’s care, it canand will happen to churches today. But, when it happens, we needto think biblically about some issues.

First, true Christians are born of God. The key issue with thesefalse teachers was, they were not of us. They did not share the newlife in Christ that brings us into His body, the church. So, they feltfree to leave. You can be on the membership list of the churchwithout having experienced the new birth. While I believe that it’simportant to join a church, it is far more important to make surethat you’re truly of the church through the new birth.

Second, if you truly know Christ, you will persevere with the church. It isimperfect. It contains difficult and irritating people. But, it is family!You were born into it through the new birth, and so was everyoneelse who has truly trusted Christ. While you may not have pickedthese folks to be in your family, God picked them and you’ve gotto learn to get along with them! Although they often grate likesandpaper against your soul, it’s by persevering with them that Godsmoothes your rough edges. You will experience hurt feelings andmisunderstandings if you get involved in a local church! Be com-mitted to work through these matters. Don’t bail out on thechurch!

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Third, note that John was more concerned about purity of doctrine thanhe was about church growth or unity. He never says, “We should go afterthese dear brothers and bring them back!” Or, “Let’s set aside ourdifferences and love these men.” Rather, he says in effect, “Theirdeparture shows their true colors. Let them go!” Of course, weneed to evaluate the seriousness of the doctrinal matter at hand.Sometimes sincere Christians have to agree to disagree or even towork in separate parts of the Lord’s vineyard. But if the doctrinalissue is a core matter of the faith, purity is much more importantthan unity or church growth. We should not measure a church’ssuccess by the numbers who attend, but rather by its faithfulness tothe truth of the gospel.

So John says, “Beware, Satan works in the realm of religion.Beware of anyone who breaks from the true church to form a newgroup with new theology.”

C. Beware of anyone who offers “new truth” that othershave missed.

The test of orthodoxy is submission and adherence to the ap-ostolic teaching contained in the New Testament. If someonecomes up with some new “truth” that no one else has discoveredsince the days of the apostles, beware! The heretics claimed thatthey had now been initiated into a deeper level of truth than theaverage church member had experienced. It always flatters ourpride to think that we have some level of truth that others lack, orwe have had some special spiritual experience that other poor soulsare missing out on. These false teachers were claiming such knowl-edge and offering it as bait to those who had yet to be enlightened.

This is probably the background to verse 20. There is a textualvariant here. The KJV (and New KJV) follows the reading, “youknow all things.” Most other versions follow the reading (probablyoriginal), “you all know.” John is telling his readers that spiritualknowledge is not restricted to some elite inner circle. Rather, theyall know the truth of the gospel because they all have the anointingfrom the Holy One, which refers to the indwelling Holy Spirit thatJesus, the Holy One, promised to send.

The false teachers may have been using the word “anointing”as a technical term for being initiated into their special gnosis, or

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knowledge (John Stott, The Epistles of John [Eerdmans], p. 107). ButJohn takes their term and uses it of the Holy Spirit. At the momentof the new birth, God’s Spirit opens our blind eyes to see the truthabout our sinfulness and the all-sufficiency of what Christ did onthe cross to pay for our sins. This simple gospel message is whatthese believers had heard from the beginning (2:24). Rather thanmoving on from it to some “new truth,” they needed to abide inthe old gospel truth that they had believed from the start.

So John’s first point is that to avoid spiritual deception, bediscerning of people. Satan disguises himself as an angel of lightand his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness (2Cor. 11:14, 15). But, they are liars and deceivers!

2. To avoid spiritual deception, be discerning of doctrine(2:21-23).

The late philosophy professor Allan Bloom began his 1987best-seller, The Closing of the American Mind ([Simon and Schuster], p.25), “There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of:almost every student entering the university believes, or says hebelieves, that truth is relative.” He goes on to say (pp. 25-26), “Thedanger they have been taught to fear from absolutism is not errorbut intolerance. Relativism is necessary to openness; and this is thevirtue, the only virtue, which all primary education for more thanfifty years has dedicated itself to inculcating.”

He was right: We live in a day that has rejected the idea of ab-solute truth, especially in the spiritual realm. It smacks of arroganceto say that you know the truth and that others who do not shareyour view are wrong. You’re free to have your own spiritual opin-ions, as long as you don’t claim that your view is the only true view.

This prevailing tenant of postmodernism has now invaded thechurch through “the emergent church.” This growing movementdownplays preaching (what could be more arrogant than for oneman to stand up and say that he is proclaiming the truth?). And itmagnifies sharing personal experiences in an accepting, non-judgmental atmosphere.

Notice how contrary this is to John’s statement in 2:20, “youall know,” and to 2:21: “I have not written to you because you donot know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie

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is of the truth.” That sure sounds like John believed in absolutetruth in the spiritual realm, and that you can know when you’reright and others are wrong! There are three implications here,which I can only touch on briefly:

A. Sound doctrine really matters!

John says (2:23), “Whoever denies the Son does not have theFather; the one who confesses the Son has the Father.” He goes onto say (2:25) that all of this concerns God’s promise to us abouteternal life. That’s fairly important! If you deny the truth aboutGod’s Son as revealed in the New Testament, you do not have theFather and you do not have eternal life!

A popular sentimental, syrupy view goes, “It doesn’t matterwhat you believe as long as you’re sincere.” When you share Christwith someone who buys into this thinking, he will respond, “It’snice that you believe that, but I have my own beliefs.” Accordingto this view, sincerity is the main thing; truth doesn’t matter. Thatis utter nonsense! You can sincerely drink poison, believing that itis medicine, but it will kill you just the same. Sound doctrine reallymatters!

B. Sound doctrine is inextricably linked with a personal rela-tionship with God.

John says that if you deny the Son, you do not have the Father.He goes on to talk about abiding in the Son and the Father (2:24).“Abiding” is John’s word for fellowship or a close relationship withGod. His point is that if you deny cardinal truth about Jesus Christand yet claim to know God, you are deceiving yourself. This is notto say that a new believer must be able to give precisely correcttheological statements about the trinity or the two natures of Christin order to be truly saved. But it is to say that if someone know-ingly makes heretical statements about Christ and is not open tocorrection, his salvation is suspect. Sound doctrine necessarily goesalong with a genuine personal relationship with God.

C. Sound doctrine about the person and work of Christ isabsolutely vital.

Most heresies go astray with regard to the person or work ofJesus Christ. John Calvin pointed out that since Christ is the sumof the gospel, heretics especially aim their arrows at Him. The only

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way that we can know the Father is through the Son (John 14:6).These false teachers were denying that Jesus is the Christ (2:22).This probably was more than a denial that Jesus was the Old Tes-tament Messiah. The context here, which refers to Jesus as the Sonof God and which closely links the Father and the Son, indicatesthat these false teachers denied the full deity of Jesus Christ. Theydenied the incarnation, that God took on human flesh in the virginbirth of Jesus. They taught that “the Christ” came upon the humanJesus at His baptism and departed at His crucifixion. John says thatthey denied both the Father and the Son.

The modern cults all go astray on the person and work of Je-sus Christ. They deny His deity and His substitutionary death onthe cross. They deny the trinity. Some of them speak in Gnosticfashion of “the Christ within us all.” By denying the Son of God,they do not have the Father. In the words of this apostle of love,they are liars, deceivers, and antichrists.

Conclusion

We should be diligent to preserve the unity of the body ofChrist, but not at any cost. There is no room for compromise onthe core beliefs of Christian orthodoxy, especially the truths aboutthe person of Christ and the gospel.

During World War Two, Neville Chamberlain of Britain triedto keep the peace by appeasing Adolf Hitler. After giving Poland toHitler, Chamberlain went back to England proclaiming “peace inour times.” But Winston Churchill wisely observed, “An appeaseris one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” Sureenough, Hitler later tried to eat Britain, too.

If we compromise truth to appease a heretic or to keep him inthe church, it will lead to our ultimate spiritual demise. To avoidspiritual deception, be discerning of people, especially of religiouspeople who claim to have some new truth. Be discerning of sounddoctrine. Know your Bible well. Study systematic theology. Studychurch history. Most errors today have been around for centuries.Next time we will study John’s antidote to heresy, to abide in theWord and in the Spirit.

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Application Questions

1. What is the difference (if any) between being discerning andbeing distrustful? Is it wrong to be distrustful of someone?

2. How do you develop discernment without becoming skepticalof everyone and everything?

3. Since there are so many views of different doctrines, how canyou know that you are right? How can you hold to being rightwithout becoming arrogant?

4. How do you determine which doctrines are core doctrines,worth dividing over, and which are more peripheral?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2006, All Rights Reserved.